Tournament SPL XI: OU Discussion

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TPP

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Power Rankings
Usage Stats
Standings and Records

Hello everyone! This thread will be used to discuss the SS OU tier, it's players, matches and development over the course of SPL. Replays will be in the post below this one, and I will try to link some notable posts from each week that may include week recaps or battle reviews.


Potential OU players:

Alpha Ruiners: Empo, FLCL, Twixtry, Valentine, Sayuze, Askov, Lil Blaine
Dragonspiral Tyrants: blunder, TDK, Luthier, marilli, Nat, CTC, Christo, starry blanket
Indie Scooters: Lopunny Kicks, Quaze, ZoroDark, Jayde, Adri, talah, Leo
Wi-fi Wolfpack: Charmflash, Welli0u, Star, BIHI, Sjneider, The Hallows, rozes
Ever Grande BIGS: Sabella, aim, idiotfrommars, Frania, Adaam, Santu, Kushalos, soulgazer, Diophantine, ima
Circus Maximus Tigers: Eternal Spirit, robjr, le LLiolae, Tace, 1 True Lycan, dekzeh, Luigi, Rexus
Congregation of the Classiest: Insult, blarghlfarghl, suapah, Relous, Excal
Stark Sharks: Conflict, bro fist, xray, teal6, frisoeva, Genesis7, EviGaro, Alkione, Indigo Plateau
Cryonicles: Finchinator, Eo Ut Mortus, obii, Sacri', Updated Kanto
Team Raiders: Trosko, reiku, Lusa, Vulpix03, Simia
The Dragonspiral Tyrants trade ima, GaryTheGengar, eden and Descending to the Ever Grande BIGS for TDK.
TYRANTS : -ima, -GaryTheGengar, -eden, -Descending, +TDK
BIGS: -TDK, +ima, +GaryTheGengar, +eden, +Descending

The Wi-Fi Wolfpack trade Diophantine, Haru and 1k auction credits to the Ever Grande BIGS for rozes.
WOLFPACK: -Diophantine, -Haru, -1k, +rozes
BIGS: +Diophantine, +Haru, +1k, -rozes

29500 TDK
26000 bro fist
20500 Sacri'
20000 Finchinator
19500 FLCL
18500 Star
17500 Eo Ut Mortus
17000 dekzeh
16000 Jayde
13500 Updated Kanto
12000 xray
12000 robjr
11000 suapah
11000 teal6
10500 Relous
10000 ZoroDark
10000 aim
8500 ima
7500 Quaze
7500 blarghlfarghl
7000 Genesis7
7000 Luthier
7000 rozes
6000 Sjneider
6000 Tace
6000 Adaam
5500 obii
5000 Frania
5000 frisoeva
5000 talah
4500 Vulpix03
4500 Excal
4500 le LLiolae
4000 Twixtry
3500 1 True Lycan
3500 Sayuze
3500 Leo
3500 Santu
3500 soulgazer
3500 marilli
3000 Rexus
3000 Luigi
3000 Zokuru
3000 Diophantine
3000 Adri
3000 reiku
3000 Lusa
3000 Simia
3000 Indigo Plateau
3000 idiotfrommars
3000 Kushalos
3000 The Hallows
3000 BIHI
3000 starry blanket
3000 Nat
3000 CTC
3000 Christo
3000 Alkione
3000 EviGaro
3000 Valentine
3000 Askov
3000 Lil Blaine

1. bro fist: 1.222
2. Eo Ut Mortus: 3.556
3. Empo: 3.666
4. TDK: 5.333
5. Charmflash: 5.333
6. Trosko: 5.778
7. Sacri: 6.222
8. Lopunny Kicks: 7.3333
9. Star: 8.4444
10. Insult: 9.000
11. FLCL: 9.222
12. teal6: 12.889
13. xray: 13.222
14. ima: 13.556
15. blarghlfarghl: 13.667
16. Jayde: 15.667
17. tace: 16.333
18. Twixtry: 17.000
19. le LLiolae: 17.000
20. Aim: 17.333
21. Christo: 17.444
22. 1 True Lycan: 18.889
23. Nat: 20.444
24. relous: 21.000
25. ZoroDark: 21.111
26. Soulgazer: 22.667
27. The Hallows: 22.778
28. Garay Oak: 24.556
29. Lusa: 24.667
30. reiku: 24.667

1. Stark Sharks (bro fist + teal6 + xray)
2. Alpha Ruiners (Empo + FLCL + Twixtry)
3. Cryonicles (Eo Ut Mortus + Sacri' + Garay Oak)
4. Wi-Fi Wolfpack (Charmflash + Star + The Hallows)
5. Dragonspiral Tyrants (TDK + Christo + Nat)
6. Congregation of the Classiest (Insult + blarghlfarghl + Relous)
7. Indie Scooters (Lopunny Kicks + Jayde + ZoroDark)
8. Circus Maximus Tigers (Tace + le LLiolae + 1 True Lycan)
9. Ever Grande Bigs (ima + aim + soulgazer)
10. Team Raiders (Trosko + Lusa + reiku)
 
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TPP

is a Tournament Directoris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Past SPL Championis a Past WCoP Champion
Head TD
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Semi-finals
Finals
 
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Ruft

is a Site Content Manageris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
OU Leader
:ss/hydreigon:
Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dark Pulse / Flamethrower
- Draco Meteor
- Thunder Wave
- U-turn

This set is very prevalent in SPL currently. Thunder Wave is a really nice move to use as a mid-ground since it is able to cripple most of Hydreigon's initial targets as well as its switch-ins (Clefable, Sylveon, Mandibuzz, etc.). Paralysis in general has had a major effect on the outcome of certain games so far.
 
:ss/hydreigon:
Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dark Pulse / Flamethrower
- Draco Meteor
- Thunder Wave
- U-turn

This set is very prevalent in SPL currently. Thunder Wave is a really nice move to use as a mid-ground since it is able to cripple most of Hydreigon's initial targets as well as its switch-ins (Clefable, Sylveon, Mandibuzz, etc.). Paralysis in general has had a major effect on the outcome of certain games so far.
To go into a little more depth than this, I'd specifically like to point out that a paralyzed Clefable or Sylveon has a significantly harder time dealing with Pokemon such as Conkeldurr and Dragapult. It also makes it much harder for them to scout Choice-locked Pokemon with Protect. All of this together, make Thunder Wave on Choice Scarf Hydreigon very appealing right now.

Another Pokemon I'd like to shift a little more attention to is Substitute Dragapult. For similar reasons to Hydreigon, it has started to run Thunder Wave pretty often. While being unable to cripple Pokemon like Gastrodon can be annoying, as was showcased in ima and Lopunny Kicks' game, you are going to see one of Clefable or Sylveon basically every game, so it's bound to be useful almsot every single time.

Despite its inability to adequately deal with Fairy-types, Kommo-o has been able to garner an impressive 100% winrate after being used 8 times. Throughout the games it's been used, it's been able to show off its ability to check Pokemon such as Rotom-H and Excadrill solidly, while also showcasing its worth as a Stealth Rock setter.
 
So far it looks like Corviknight and Clefable are on nearly every team, and Toxapex is also incredibly common. Other common stuff includes Hydreigon and Dragapult, which is fitting since these mons have been meta-defining for quite a while. Dugtrio is doing well, mostly running Band and appearing on balance teams.

No one has brought a serious stall team yet and I doubt anyone will. Hyper offense is equally dead in this tour and the meta as a whole, although both have some potential. Rain hasn’t shown up at all either which is somewhat surprising as it seems like a decent anti-meta pick. Blunder, do your thing.

Thunder Wave is great right now. Fast attackers become a liability and defensive mons can’t reliably beat their targets anymore. It also pairs well with slower breakers like Aegislash and Conkeldurr, as well as Togekiss, which has been on a few teams so far and has performed decently.

Dracovish is incredibly over-prepared for. Every single team has a water absorb mon, Toxapex, or Ferrothorn, or a combination of them. It’s honestly kind of useless since everyone is forced to run a counter or solid check or they’d get annihilated otherwise. Very meta-constraining but ironically pretty bad right now as a result.

There hasn’t been any of Hatterene, Grimmsnarl, or Bisharp yet, and all of them strike me as capable of crushing unprepared teams. Their favorable matchups against many top-tier mons helps as well.

Excadrill can’t do shit right now because of Corviknight, and Dugtrio doesn’t help either. I personally wouldn’t bother using it since it will most likely be deadweight. Crazy good if no one is running Corv though.

I’m not expecting many major developments over the course of SPL. Most battles will probably be balance or bulky offense, the current meta staples will retain high usage, and things will be fairly stable. I predict Dracovish and Excadrill will see no usage and very low usage, respectively, as they’re so prepared for and will struggle to accomplish anything. I’m curious to see minor techs show up like TWave on Scarf Hydra and Sub Pult. I think those will be the most interesting trends to come from SPL this year.

Also, once Pokémon Home drops I assume all the newly available stuff will be usable in SPL? Shell Smash Blastoise, Weather Ball + Earth Power Venusaur, Melmetal, Kyurem-Black (before its quickbanned), etc? If so, the second half of SPL will be wildly different than the first half.
 
I've watched most SS OU games that have been played so far and I must say it's pretty boring to see how incredibly similar every team is, they basically all blur together. The only differences seem to come from small micro things like the aforementioned Thunder Wave on the dragons, what set the inevitable Clefable is running etc, granted this was to be expected with how small the pool of usable Mons is in the first place.

Hope Home spices things up a little before the DLC's come out or it'll be a pretty dull tier to watch for 5 weeks or whatever, though seeing someone innovate in a tier that's apparently this stagnant would be cool too so I hope it happens.
 
I've watched most SS OU games that have been played so far and I must say it's pretty boring to see how incredibly similar every team is, they basically all blur together. The only differences seem to come from small micro things like the aforementioned Thunder Wave on the dragons, what set the inevitable Clefable is running etc, granted this was to be expected with how small the pool of usable Mons is in the first place.

Hope Home spices things up a little before the DLC's come out or it'll be a pretty dull tier to watch for 5 weeks or whatever, though seeing someone innovate in a tier that's apparently this stagnant would be cool too so I hope it happens.
The similarity of every team played is not only linked to the small pool available but more or less how weak to duggy you want to be ( 100% win rate so far nothing surprising :eyes: ) , his sole existence makes half the cast unusable or terribly weak .

Edit : not 100% wr anymore TDK won
 
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Cheryl.

Celesteela is Life
The similarity of every team played is not only linked to the small pool available but more or less how weak to duggy you want to be ( 100% win rate so far nothing surprising :eyes: ) , his sole existence makes half the cast unusable or terribly weak .
I agree with this post because a ton of the VR that could work as anti-meta measures to some of these bulkier teams (Dracozolt for example does massive work against a lot of these teams) are usually weak to Duggy so they're really not that useful. However, there are some options that can bypass Duggy's trapping, such as Chandelure which was shown in teal's game. While I do think Duggy being removed from the meta as quickly as possible would be the best way out of this building slump I am excited to see how people build to adapt around Duggy's trapping capabilities as SPL goes on.
 

chimp

Go Bananas
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The usage stats dropped for R1:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Clefable | 20 | 66.67% | 55.00% |
| 2 | Corviknight | 19 | 63.33% | 47.37% |
| 3 | Dragapult | 15 | 50.00% | 40.00% |
| 4 | Seismitoad | 14 | 46.67% | 35.71% |
| 5 | Rotom-Heat | 13 | 43.33% | 53.85% |
| 6 | Mandibuzz | 11 | 36.67% | 36.36% |
| 7 | Hydreigon | 10 | 33.33% | 20.00% |
| 8 | Dugtrio | 8 | 26.67% | 62.50% |
| 8 | Excadrill | 8 | 26.67% | 62.50% |
| 10 | Toxapex | 7 | 23.33% | 71.43% |
| 10 | Kommo-o | 7 | 23.33% | 71.43% |
| 12 | Ferrothorn | 6 | 20.00% | 83.33% |
| 12 | Sylveon | 6 | 20.00% | 33.33% |
| 14 | Aegislash | 4 | 13.33% | 25.00% |
| 15 | Conkeldurr | 3 | 10.00% | 66.67% |
| 15 | Snorlax | 3 | 10.00% | 66.67% |
| 15 | Gengar | 3 | 10.00% | 33.33% |
| 15 | Hippowdon | 3 | 10.00% | 33.33% |
| 19 | Tyranitar | 2 | 6.67% | 100.00% |
| 19 | Togekiss | 2 | 6.67% | 100.00% |
| 19 | Ditto | 2 | 6.67% | 50.00% |
| 19 | Gastrodon | 2 | 6.67% | 50.00% |
| 19 | Reuniclus | 2 | 6.67% | 0.00% |
| 24 | Obstagoon | 1 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 24 | Mamoswine | 1 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 24 | Chandelure | 1 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 24 | Jellicent | 1 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 24 | Rotom-Wash | 1 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 24 | Pelipper | 1 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 24 | Dracozolt | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |
| 24 | Xatu | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |
| 24 | Rotom-Mow | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |
| 24 | Sigilyph | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |

You can also find links to the lead / movesets / teammates stats here: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/smogon-premier-league-xi-usage-statistics.3658913/

Interesting to see Clefable sit at #1, though not surprising. We all know of its versatility and splashability, and it seems overcoming Clefable (or Sylveon, for that matter) is a big part of many team's strategies, and its lead to some interesting tech, like the aforementioned T-Wave Hydreigon/Dragapult. Being at #1 and having a >50% winrate is quite impressive and a testament to how good Clefable is. Speaking of winrate, Hydreigon is sitting at a sad 20%, which is a bit unexpected.

I'm also glad to see Snorlax getting some usage, appearing in 3 battles. I think Snorlax has a lot of underappreciated value right now, being able to absolutely soak up special hits, which is huge in this particularly heavily Special metagame. Bar Conkeldurr and Kommo-o (who is often specially orientated) there aren't many other Fighting-types stomping around, either.

Thoughts?
 
The usage stats dropped for R1:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Clefable | 20 | 66.67% | 55.00% |
| 2 | Corviknight | 19 | 63.33% | 47.37% |
| 3 | Dragapult | 15 | 50.00% | 40.00% |
| 4 | Seismitoad | 14 | 46.67% | 35.71% |
| 5 | Rotom-Heat | 13 | 43.33% | 53.85% |
| 6 | Mandibuzz | 11 | 36.67% | 36.36% |
| 7 | Hydreigon | 10 | 33.33% | 20.00% |
| 8 | Dugtrio | 8 | 26.67% | 62.50% |
| 8 | Excadrill | 8 | 26.67% | 62.50% |
| 10 | Toxapex | 7 | 23.33% | 71.43% |
| 10 | Kommo-o | 7 | 23.33% | 71.43% |
| 12 | Ferrothorn | 6 | 20.00% | 83.33% |
| 12 | Sylveon | 6 | 20.00% | 33.33% |
| 14 | Aegislash | 4 | 13.33% | 25.00% |
| 15 | Conkeldurr | 3 | 10.00% | 66.67% |
| 15 | Snorlax | 3 | 10.00% | 66.67% |
| 15 | Gengar | 3 | 10.00% | 33.33% |
| 15 | Hippowdon | 3 | 10.00% | 33.33% |
| 19 | Tyranitar | 2 | 6.67% | 100.00% |
| 19 | Togekiss | 2 | 6.67% | 100.00% |
| 19 | Ditto | 2 | 6.67% | 50.00% |
| 19 | Gastrodon | 2 | 6.67% | 50.00% |
| 19 | Reuniclus | 2 | 6.67% | 0.00% |
| 24 | Obstagoon | 1 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 24 | Mamoswine | 1 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 24 | Chandelure | 1 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 24 | Jellicent | 1 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 24 | Rotom-Wash | 1 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 24 | Pelipper | 1 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 24 | Dracozolt | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |
| 24 | Xatu | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |
| 24 | Rotom-Mow | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |
| 24 | Sigilyph | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |

You can also find links to the lead / movesets / teammates stats here: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/smogon-premier-league-xi-usage-statistics.3658913/

Interesting to see Clefable sit at #1, though not surprising. We all know of its versatility and splashability, and it seems overcoming Clefable (or Sylveon, for that matter) is a big part of many team's strategies, and its lead to some interesting tech, like the aforementioned T-Wave Hydreigon/Dragapult. Being at #1 and having a >50% winrate is quite impressive and a testament to how good Clefable is. Speaking of winrate, Hydreigon is sitting at a sad 20%, which is a bit unexpected.

I'm also glad to see Snorlax getting some usage, appearing in 3 battles. I think Snorlax has a lot of underappreciated value right now, being able to absolutely soak up special hits, which is huge in this particularly heavily Special metagame. Bar Conkeldurr and Kommo-o (who is often specially orientated) there aren't many other Fighting-types stomping around, either.

Thoughts?
Not too unexpected of a Top 10, similar to how the high ladder usage stats have been, although Clefable at 67% is still a bit surprising. Didn't expect Kommo-o being tied at 10th place, with a high winrate too, most running the Body Press/Stealth Rock set.

Not to harp on Dugtrio too much, as it's already been discussed here, but watching the game between FLCL and Tace, it actually got all 6 KOs. Trapped/EQ'd Clefable, Seismitoad and Aegislash, Stone Edge'd Rotom-H/Mandibuzz, and forced the switch to KO Dragapult. Fair to say it has made a big impact every match it's in.

Some OU mons that saw no usage:

-
I think players preferred using more defensive, Wish pass Fairy types instead
-
Rotom-H works better as a pivot, it doesn't appreciate all the bulky Waters right now, also gets trapped by Dug
-
Considering over half the teams had a Water Immunity mon on their team, seems no one could justify bringing it
-
Kind of hard to fit unless you are running Screens HO
-
Can't break through Excadrill/Ferrothorn consistently, also Duggy fodder
-
I actually think Bisharp could have been decent against some teams, but Conk was more preferred for priority
-
Taunt/Knock Off cripples it, CM Clefable can set up on it, just not as great as other defensive options
 

spatula

I LOVE CHIPFLAVOUR
is a Tiering Contributor
Hi, I don't usually post in these threads, but I have been looking forward to watching the first (official) tournament featuring the new generation for a while. Although I didnt get to catch every game live, I was paying close attention to the cool new techs and combos people prepared for the first week.

It was cool to see weather ball being used on Pelipper - I think a lot of people were looking at this move on sun teams when its distribution was announced, but it's cool to see it on Pelipper as it is only 10 bp lower than Hydro Pump while being 100% accurate. Also peculiar to see no hard rain abusers on that team, so while it might be a very niche strategy as far as I am aware, it's nice to see a weather setter other than tyranitar being used for its offensive rather than supportive capabilities. This is a departure from rain as a strategy in SM, where there were usually multiple weather abusers on any given rain team.

I also found reiku's dragapult set of dragon darts/steel wing/u-turn/will o wisp very interesting. We are seeing a lot more combinations of moves on Dragapult depending on the team (twave/wisp/sub/hex/draco/uturn...). Dragapult has an expansive movepool, and it is awesome to see the exploration and development of its sets over time. That is one of the most exciting parts of competitive pokemon to me. Another thing I noticed was that dragapult was commonly paired with dugtrio. I doubt this is a coincidence, as I am sure trapping certain pokemon (pex?) can help dragapult annoy the opponent's team further, but maybe a more experienced player can elaborate on what makes this pairing so popular/strong.

Looking forward to the rest of the season!
 
Another thing I noticed was that dragapult was commonly paired with dugtrio. I doubt this is a coincidence, as I am sure trapping certain pokemon (pex?) can help dragapult annoy the opponent's team further, but maybe a more experienced player can elaborate on what makes this pairing so popular/strong.
The reason Dragapult and Dugtrio are so strong together is because Dugtrio can trap Pokemon such as Clefable, Sylveon, and Toxapex, making it much easier for Dragapult to overwhelm teams.
 
One thing I've noticed is that Body Press was very rare on Corviknight in the first week. On the ladder where hyper offense is prevalent and offensive threats such as Obstagoon, Bisharp, DD-Tar, and sand rush Excadrill are prevalent body press Corvignight is really good. In particular I've been a big fan of brave bird, body press, defog, roost Corviknight in a more offensive environment. However, in an environment where balance is prominent and bulky Clef and Sylveon are everywhere body press is less useful than u-turn, iron head, or taunt. People preferred to run Dugtrio, Conkeldurr or Komm-o as an out to common body press targets instead. It will be interesting to see if players try to run Bisharp as an answer to this trend. Crawdaunt also looks rather appealing right now as a breaker, though bulky Kommo-o is seeing some play and the banded set might not be that great right now because Dugtrio is everywhere. A number of constructions have also looked fairly weak to Mamoswine, which can bypass Dugtrio with ice shard but unfortunately struggles in practice with longevity. Whether Seismitoad remains as popular after a pretty terrible week one remains to be seen. Dugtrio balances vastly outperformed Toad balances and bulky offenses in week one. If Toad falters expect Rotom-H to benefit.
 
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One thing I've noticed is that Body Press was very rare on Corviknight in the first week. On the ladder where hyper offense is prevalent and offensive threats such as Obstagoon, Bisharp, DD-Tar, and sand rush Excadrill are prevalent body press Corvignight is really good. In particular I've been a big fan of brave bird, body press, defog, roost Corviknight in a more offensive environment. However, in an environment where balance is prominent and bulky Clef and Sylveon are everywhere body press is less useful than u-turn, iron head, or taunt. People preferred to run Dugtrio, Conkeldurr or Komm-o as an out to common body press targets instead. It will be interesting to see if players try to run Bisharp as an answer to this trend. Crawdaunt also looks rather appealing right now as a breaker, though bulky Kommo-o is seeing some play and the banded set might not be that great right now because Dugtrio is everywhere. A number of constructions have also looked fairly weak to Mamoswine, which can bypass Dugtrio with ice shard but unfortunately struggles in practice with longevity. Whether Seismitoad remains as popular after a pretty terrible week one remains to be seen. Dugtrio balances vastly outperformed Toad balances and bulky offenses in week one. If Toad falters expect Rotom-H to benefit.
I have to agree with the point about corviknight. I've found the (bravebird, body press, defog, roost) set to be probably the most useful pokemon/set combination overall to run on ladder, just because of how useful it is at checking the common offensive mons found on the ladder. It seems in spl however, the loss of momentum in these closely matched balance v balance games seems to be too much so u-turn is preferred.

One thing I've been really impressed with so far is how people have been using dugtrio. It can actually offer quite a bit of role compression in a lot of cases: it supports offensively of course, it offers decent speed control, and can also check (due to trapping) a few mons that teams have struggle dealing with. I'll give an example: a lot of teams early on in the metagame are feeling constrained by having to have a specific answer to LO Clefable, since it 2hkos the majority of the metagame, however if you run a bulky band (not sure exact spread) set on dugtrio you can forego this and simply rely on dugtrio to revenge it, which frees up teambuilding elsewhere.

A quick suggestion for this thread: would it be possible to update the previous weeks matches with results when the current weeks fixtures go up, as I doubt this thread is too worried about spoilers...
 
I just wanted to note ring target on insult’s rotom-h with trick. What a completely nuts tech choice for toad. I’m curious to see what else it works on. While many people have pointed out that toad is potentially going to see less usage due to the lack of dracovish in the SPL, man is that a really cool pick. While it wasn’t critical to the match at hand, that’s absolutely a tech I want to try out with something like HO water spam with dracovish and crawdaunt

edit: I don’t know what ring target does
 
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Was watching 1 True Lycan vs Empo and an interesting strategy caught my eye. Whenever Lycan would Defog with Corv, Empo would go to his own Corv so Defog would get hit by Pressure. This allowed him to almost run Corv out of Defogs before Powdon ran out of rocks. Interesting counterplay to Corv's rock PP stalling.
 
Dracovish is incredibly over-prepared for. Every single team has a water absorb mon, Toxapex, or Ferrothorn, or a combination of them. It’s honestly kind of useless since everyone is forced to run a counter or solid check or they’d get annihilated otherwise. Very meta-constraining but ironically pretty bad right now as a result.
This is something that I've been thinking about and is important to bring up regarding Dracovish. As a lot of people have noticed, teams look pretty similar, and although this could be attributed to how good mons like Clefable and Corvinight are (and this is definitely part of the reason), the fact that you need a turbo water resist on basically any team outside of hyper offense (where maybe 4/6 outspeed) really limits your options with exploring unique defensive cores. This is especially obvious on more offensively oriented teams where you're trying to create a decent defensive backbone with only a few pivots. Ferrothorn doesn't really count as an answer either, since even Jolly band 3HKOs max max Ferro (even with one turn of leech seed), which means Dracovish kills Ferro first.

I would be interested to see what the meta would look like if people didn't have Dracovish in the back of their minds while building.
 

Shellnuts

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While I do agree it would be interesting to see how the meta would look without people thinking about Dracovish all the time, even without Vish I still think the bulky offense Corv+Fairy+Rotom-H teams would be dominant because the only Pokemon that break the common bulky offense teams (well, the ones that are left after the dex cut) are more offensive mons, but the only ones who can consistently break these teams without dying, outside of Dracovish getting in on Clef when Seismitoad is gone, are bulkier mons which work best on bulky offensive teams, creating a self-enforcing, quite bland and boring metagame to watch. There could be some interesting methods of making this metagame more interesting such as using Corviknight to pressure stall out wish healing from Clefable (aka Gen 1 Chansey version 2.0) leading to the team becoming starved for heals, enabling more niche mons to who can hit hard but don't last long to be usable. But unless some major breakthrough is made, I still see this SPL shifting more and more towards a homogenous bulky offense metagame with teams that put me to sleep faster than watching 2 GSC stall teams 1v1 each-other.
 
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Clefable | 18 | 60.00% | 55.56% |
| 2 | Corviknight | 17 | 56.67% | 47.06% |
| 3 | Dragapult | 16 | 53.33% | 50.00% |
| 4 | Seismitoad | 11 | 36.67% | 36.36% |
| 5 | Hydreigon | 10 | 33.33% | 60.00% |
| 5 | Kommo-o | 10 | 33.33% | 60.00% |
| 7 | Excadrill | 7 | 23.33% | 57.14% |
| 7 | Dugtrio | 7 | 23.33% | 42.86% |
| 7 | Mandibuzz | 7 | 23.33% | 28.57% |
| 10 | Rotom-Wash | 6 | 20.00% | 66.67% |
| 10 | Rotom-Heat | 6 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 10 | Toxapex | 6 | 20.00% | 33.33% |
| 13 | Conkeldurr | 5 | 16.67% | 40.00% |
| 13 | Sylveon | 5 | 16.67% | 40.00% |
| 15 | Togekiss | 3 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 15 | Aegislash | 3 | 10.00% | 66.67% |
| 15 | Sigilyph | 3 | 10.00% | 66.67% |
| 15 | Grimmsnarl | 3 | 10.00% | 66.67% |
| 15 | Gengar | 3 | 10.00% | 33.33% |
| 15 | Ferrothorn | 3 | 10.00% | 33.33% |
| 21 | Rhyperior | 2 | 6.67% | 100.00% |
| 21 | Rotom-Mow | 2 | 6.67% | 100.00% |
| 21 | Cloyster | 2 | 6.67% | 100.00% |
| 21 | Cinderace | 2 | 6.67% | 100.00% |
| 21 | Hawlucha | 2 | 6.67% | 50.00% |
| 21 | Tyranitar | 2 | 6.67% | 50.00% |
| 21 | Mamoswine | 2 | 6.67% | 0.00% |
| 28 | Hippowdon | 1 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 28 | Bisharp | 1 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 28 | Weezing-Galar | 1 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 28 | Gyarados | 1 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 28 | Obstagoon | 1 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 28 | Crawdaunt | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |
| 28 | Vanilluxe | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |
| 28 | Ninetales | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |
| 28 | Shiftry | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |
| 28 | Hatterene | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |
| 28 | Pelipper | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |
| 28 | Ludicolo | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |
| 28 | Dracovish | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |
| 28 | Chandelure | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |
| 28 | Corsola-Galar | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |
| 28 | Ditto | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |
| 28 | Passimian | 1 | 3.33% | 0.00% |


Week 2 stats are up, with some new mons appearing in games alongside the same 12 or so mons that show up on like every team. Thoughts?
 
In general players were much more willing to experiment with different pokemon than in week 1. Rotom-Wash in particular stood out as having a very good week, as seen in the game Aim versus Updated Kanto: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-472335. The Sub-Nasty plot set can set up against Seismitoad and choice locked Dugtrio making it a big threat versus balance. With specs Dragapult (Sub-Rotom's best out) being rarer than other Dragapult sets on balance builds Rotom-W's sub nasty plot set has a good chance to shine. Other mons that had success in a small number of games include Togekiss and Cloyster. Togekiss is good against a lot of the bulkier teams right now and Cloyster is probably one of if not the best pokemon to use on Hyper Offense, a style that saw some play this week. Other trends include Excadrill continuing to do well despite the presence of Corvignight and Dugtrio. On the opposite end Mandibuzz and Seismitoad continue to have below average win rates. The biggest reason that I think that Drill is doing well while Mandi and Toad aren't have to do with Clefable. Clefable may arguably have a bigger impact on the SPL meta than either Dugtrio, Corviknight, or the rare but always prepped for Dracovish. The important thing to remember though is that it's only been two weeks and that the sample size of games is still small. The meta will continue to change especially with more pokemon arriving around the corner. I firmly disagree with the notion that the meta is stale or completely set at this point.
 
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I want to talk about the game between teal and talah, specifically the really cool team that Teal brought. I think this was a really cool and innovative take on HO that's well adapted to the current fat meta. Here are some thoughts I have:
  • The presence of Weezing-Galar was the most unique thing about this team by far, and it defined the team's whole strategy. In contrast to a classic HO build, Teals team explicitly laid out that it was fine fighting with no hazards - in fact, if anything Teal was more concerned about keeping all hazards off the field than keeping his own hazards up. Weezing has a decent matchup against Seismitoad, a good one against Clef and a great one against Kommo-o. The lack of longevity is irrelevant for a team that intends to end the game quickly. All it needs to do is keep rocks down while weakening stuff enough to permit a sweep.
  • Hawlucha and Gyarados are still super threatening. Without that clutch Cursed Body on the EQ, Gyara would have made a clean sweep. Nothing new or fancy about these sets, I just think they're being slept on because they're less splashable than Dragapult.
  • The turn 1 NP from Hydreigon was a really smart little play. At first it seems like nothing special, but it was actually a nice mindgame from Teal. Teals team clearly showed as HO in team preview, and the combo of Seismitoad and Bisharp heavily suggested a Seismitoad lead with an early attempt at rocks. This encouraged an opposing lead from either Kommo-o or Corviknight. Leading with Hydreigon also falsely indicated a Scarf set, which is why Kommo-o had to switch to Clef, granting the free NP. +2 LO Hydreigon can hit an OHKO on Clef, so Teal was, by turn 2, nearly guaranteed to break something with Hydreigon.
  • I was a little disappointed to not see Bisharp hit the field, because I wanted to understand its role on the team better. With the way Weezing was being played, it didn't seem like Bisharp was brought mainly as hazard insurance. Was it just for its wallbreaking power? Bisharp has a lot of merits in this slower meta and I want to see it strut its stuff!
 
Didn’t have time to watch the games, what’s the dugtrio band spread needed to beat offensive Clefable 1v1? Also what set are people running with band, do they drop reversal because they are no longer can rely on sash?
 
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